So, here is my own wee story: Just before Christmas I felt unwell at home and couldn't sleep. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom and collapsed unconscious on the floor. When I came to, I took a drink of water and went back to my bed but still didn't feel right, so my partner called the NHS 24 advice line and the operator got a nurse to call me back and speak directly to me. The nurse decided I had likely had a heart attack and so contacted ambulance control centre. A short time later a paramedic was at the door (yes one of those single crew units) and he immediately set about diagnosing and stabilising my condition, this by a serious of tests and the administering of appropriate medication (all the while keeping direct communication with control centre). He had only just completed all this, when 2 others arrive in the room with a stretcher, on which I was strapped into. All 3 then lifted me up the dark and ice covered stairs leading to the road.
We live in a dim lit difficult to find single track country lane and on a below freezing winter's night, the task these three faced in just arriving at our house was not insignificant. The single medic was dispatched, as he was the nearest unit and could get to me quickest. The other 2x crew unit, I found out later, was dispatched at the same time but from further away. This is a system that clearly works. Inside the ambulance I was conscious and aware that communication was going on to determine which hospital was most appropriate to deal with my condition and could have a surgical team assembled and waiting. With destination confirmed, we set off with the 2x crew vehicle, the lone paramedic had already been re-directed to another call and most likely on his way to saving another life.
We arrived at hospital and I was immediately unloaded and taken inside, we traveled several corridors, a lift and a few more corridors and then the point where my partner was informed she could go no further. A team of 5 or 6 people in surgical greens waiting on my arrival. A few hours later, I was in a hospital bed recovering from life saving surgery. To me, my life was saved twice that night, once by the lone paramedic, who may well have put his own at risk on those icy roads and again by the super efficiency of the hospital team. I will be forever in their debt and will never tolerate any dissing of our NHS
"Scottish Ambulance service and NHS"
About: Golden Jubilee National Hospital / Cardiac Surgery Golden Jubilee National Hospital Cardiac Surgery G81 4HX NHS 24 / NHS 24 (111 service) NHS 24 NHS 24 (111 service) Scottish Ambulance Service / Emergency Ambulance Scottish Ambulance Service Emergency Ambulance EH12 9EB
Posted by tigertb46 (as ),
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